Andavan Ashramam Acharya Guru Parampara - 9

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Srimathe Ranga Ramanuja Maha Desikaya namaha:

Acharya parampara of Srimath Andavan Ashramam continues in this

posting with Srimath Thembarai Andavan - Sri Ranganatha Mahadesikan

 

Thembarai Andavan:- Thirunakshatram: Avani Revathi

Thanian:

Srimath VEdha vathamsa lakshmana munehe praapthaaga maantha dvayam

ThEna Sri raghu punga vangri yugaLe nyasthaathma Rakshaambharam

Srimath Srinidhi yogivarya karuna labdaabhja chakraangkanam

Vande shaanthi virakhthi poornamanagham Sri ranga naatham Gurum

 

Srimath Thembarai Andavan Sri RanganAtha MahA dEsikan adorned Acharya

peetam as the 8th Andavan in the Andavan Periashramam Munithraya

Sampradayam AchArya Lineage. .

 

Thembarai is a beautiful serene village situated on the banks of river

pAmani .He was born to Sri. U.Ve. Vangeepuram SeshAdriyAchAr in then

year 1886 VIYA varusham in the month of Avani with Revathy as birth

star(19-08-1886).His poorvasirama name was venkataraghavan. (His

father gave him excellent education in his younger days.

 

The Astrologers who looked at the horoscope of swAmi predicted that he

would become a sanyAsi and a parama virakthA,unparalleled. After

undergoing samskArams at the right age, swAmi performed adhyayanam of

sAma sAkhA and became an exponent. He underwent rigorous training and

mastered sanskrit, and Kavya sAstrAs along with other vEda sAkhAs in

Thirukkudanthai Sanskrit College. He went to Rajamannar koil nd

mastered vyAkaraNa sAstrAs under the tutelage of Sri. U.Ve. RangachAr

swAmi (This mahAn later became the 39th Jeer of Sri Ahobila Mutt as

Sri Parankusa SatakOpa yatheendra mahA dEsikan). Later he went to

viLAkkudi to learn tharka sAstrAs under the eminent guidance of

“ThArkika simham” Sri. U.Ve. SrinivAsachariAr swAmi. Having

completely learnt tharka sAstrAs, swAmi learnt and mastered MeemAmsa

sAstrAs under the guidance of

MahA mahOpAdhyAyA Brahmasri KuppuswAmi SastrigAL and Brahmasri ChinnaswAmi SastrigAL.

 

Marriage

In the year 1908, swAmi was married to Srimathi Vijayavalli Ammal.

Immediately after the marriage, swAmi took the VaisvadEva upadEsam

from his paternal uncle, Maha vidwAn Brahmanidhi Sri. U.Ve.

RamabhadrAchAr swAmi. During his GruhasthAsramA, swAmi observed panca

kAla anushtAnams in an austere and rigorous way. Later, swAmi served

as a religious teacher in a national high school. . During this time

swAmi served as an examiner for sanskrit competitions conducted Sri

kanchi kAmakOti matam. Sri SankarAchArya (paramAchAryA) had utmost

respect for swAmi’s pAndithyAm.SwAmi followed Sriman nigamAntha mahA

dEsikan in observing ‘Unccha vrutthi’. Such was the vairAghyam swAmi

possessed in renouncement all the materialistic lifestyle and

observance of severe austerity. c.. SwAmi underwent grantha

chathushtya kAlakshEpams under Srimath NammAndavan. In the kAlakshEpa

goshti, swAmi used to listen to kAlakshEpam with rapt attention and

full concentration.Srimath NammAndavan performed panca samskAram to

swAmi in his younger days and later performed bharasamarpanam at the

lotus feet of vaduvoor (Lord Sri Rama). In the year 1922, in

Mannargudi,Sri Ramanaya upanyasam of swAmi was arranged by Sri. U.Ve.

vidwAn Rama swAmi Iyengar and Sri. U.Ve. KrishnamAchAriAr,which went

on for over two months.While swAmi was undertaking kAlakshEpams from

His Holiness Srimath NammAndavan ,Srimath Andavan adorned ThirunAdu

unexpectedly in Kanchipuram. Srimath Akkur Andavan succeeded

NammAndavan to adorn the AchArya peetam. Thembarai swAmi continued

his kAlakshEpams under Srimath Akkur Andavan.

Guna seelAFrom his younger days, swAmi was a puritan filled with all

satva gunAs .. Simplicity, honesty, purity, veracity, courage,

equality, renunciation, lucid and profoundsampradayic knowledge were

hallmarks of swAmi’s gunAs. One could see simplicity all the way in

the clothes he wore, the food he ate or the lifestyle he led. SwAmi

was such a down-to-earth person who won the respect of many of his

admirers SwAmi had no desire to save money for his family. The

amazing virakthi swAmi possessed is attributed to his profound

knowledge of our siddhAnta and total belief in it. Even during the

sadas when sambhavana was offered to vidwAns, swAmi would do his best

to avoid taking up sanmAnam.SanyAsa sweekAramSwami was doing

kainkaryam to Srimath Akkur Andavan, continuing to undertake

kAlakshEpams under His Holiness. Srimath Andavan was immensely

pleased with our swAmi’s GnAna, vairAghyA and AnushtAnams and felt

that our swami was the right person to be adorned as ‘sampradAya

pravarthakA’ of periAsramam after His time.HE WAS very confident our

swami would carry Asramam’s growth to heights of glory. Accordingly HH

did upadEsam on prapatti proyOgA and prEsha manthram to our swami.In

the meantime, swAmi’s dharma patni attained AchAryan thiruvadi in the

year 1946. Srimath Akkur Andavan was also becoming weak because of

age. Swami after long thoughts decided to take up sanyAsam and hence

went to Srimath Andavan and prayed to HH and sought his blessings for

the sanyAsam. Srimath Andavan was extremely pleased by swAmi’s

decision and ordained His sishyAs to make arrangements for the Holy

ceremony.In the year viya in the month of Aippasi on the 21st day

i.e. on 6-10-1946 in the presence of several Andavan Thiruvadis,

Srimath Akkur Andavan gave the holy sanyAsam to Sri. U.Ve.

Brahmaniddhi Thembarai VenkatarAghavAchAriar swami. He was given the

title as ‘Sri RanganAtha mahA dEsikan’ and was fondly called as

Thembarai Andavan. Srimath Akkur Andavan lived for 5 more months

after that and adorned ThirunAdu on 19-3-1947 on a krishna paksha

dwAdasi day ( in the month of Panguni, viya year).

 

Because of the sanyAsa sweekAram, swami's lifestyle did not change a

bit at all as he practiced a life of sanyAsi even before that with

rigorous anushtAnams and extreme vairAghyam having completely

renounced worldly comforts.The daily chores of Asramam was maintained

the same way as it was done from Srimath PeriAndavan's period. Srimath

Thembarai Andavan would wake up before 4 AM in the morning and would

perform avagAha snAnam immediately thereafter. SandhyAvandhanam,

japams would be done after that followed by bhagavath ArAdhanam and

purvAchAryAs' pAdukA ArAdhanam. This was followed by distribution of

perumAl and pAdukA theertham. . Later, Sri bhAshya, geethA bhAshya,

bhagavath vishaya kAlakshEpams would by rendered by His Holiness

after which vaidheeka karmas such as samAsrayanams and bharanyAsams

would be performed for the bhAgavathAs for the

day.

In the evenings, kAlakshEpams on divya sookthis such as Srimath

RamAyanam, nyAya siddhAnjanam. AdhikaraNa sArAvaLi would happen

besides other anushtAnams. Srimath Andavan would consume very little

food once a day in the mornings.

During swAmi's time as AchAryA, Sri. U.Ve. Chakravarthi

KrishnamAchAriar swAmi, Sri. U.Ve. V.K. SrinivAsAchAriAr swami and

later Sri. U.Ve. SrinivAsa rAghavAchariAr swami ( Kannan swami –

later Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan) served as Sri Karyams of

Asramam at different periods.

As per the holy order of His Holiness, a monthly magazine called 'Sri

Ranganatha Paduka' was started in the year 1955 in the month of

October ( Manmatha Varusham in the month of Ippasi) to bring a

connection between the asramam and the andavan sishyas. Srimath

Thembarai Andavan became weaker as the days passed by due to rigorous

anushtanams, meagre intake of food and also due to breathing related

health issues. His Holiness gave upadEsam on “PrEsha manthram” and

“MOkshAsrama Ahnika AnushtAnam” to three vidwAns of the Asramam -

U.Ve. Sri. Kannan swAmi, U.Ve. Sri. Mysore GopAlAchAr swAmi(who later

on became Srimath Mysore Andavan in the late 80s) and Mannargudi

GanapAdi

vidwAn U.Ve. Sri. NarasimhAchArya swAmi for them to be ready and take

up sanyAsam any time when called.In April 1963, Srimath Andavan’s

health was extremely affected and with great difficulty His Holiness

was performing his nithya karma anushtAnamOn April 4th 1963, Srimath

Andavan's condition became worse and most of the sishyAs were

informed. Sree kAryam Sri. U.Ve. kannan swAmi was also informed of

Srimath Andavan’s health and . On His arrival, arrangements were

speeded up for Sri kannan swAmi's thureeyAsrama sweekAram. Early

morning the next day i.e. on 5th april, 1963 (Friday, sukla dwAdasi,

makam star), in the presence of sishyAs, His Holiness Srimath

Thembarai Andavan ordained the ascetic order to Sri U.Ve. Kannan

SwAmi who was named as Srimath vEdAnta rAmAnuja mahA dEsikan. and

within few hours on the same day (April 5th 1963) He adorned

Thirunadu satisfied with having found His worthy successor.

 

 

In the next posting adiyen will continue with the history of acharyas

beginning with Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan.

Srimath Andavan Thiruvadi

Perungadambanur Parthasarathy Sreenivasan

(of Besant Nagar)

Adiyen is attaching a rare photo(courtesy- Sri Devanathan-Chennai,

Srimath Andavan Thiruvadi) taken in 1950's at Srirangam Periasramam

where Srimath Thembarai Andavan is in the center along with Srimath

Thirukkudanthai Andavan(circled -on your left) in His purvasramam and

Srimath Mysore Andavan(circled, hands folded - on your right) in His

purvasramam

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